Department for Transport

Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft

lord monks: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to ratify the International Civil Aviation Organisation Montreal Protocol 2014 on disruptive passengers.

baroness sugg: During this legislative cycle, the Government does not currently intend to complete the ratification of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Montreal Protocol 2014 on disruptive passengers. The majority of the provisions within this protocol are already part of UK law, and I am confident we can take necessary action in regard to disruptive passengers. For example, the UK already has state of landing and state of operator jurisdiction, which means that disruptive passengers on any flight that touches down within the UK can be charged and, if necessary, prosecuted.

Department for Education

School Meals: Meat

baroness hodgson of abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 4 July, what action they will take to ensure that parents can prevent their children in state schools from being fed meat from animals slaughtered without pre-stunning.

lord agnew of oulton: Head teachers, governors and their caterers are best placed to make decisions about their school food policies. We expect schools to act reasonably and to provide choices that take account of cultural, religious and special dietary needs. We also expect schools to work with parents in making appropriate arrangements.

Students: Loans

lord morris of aberavon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what the Student Loans Company pays for capital to lend to students; and how any profitsit makes are used.

viscount younger of leckie: The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans on behalf of the UK government and devolved administrations with funding from Her Majesty’s Treasury. While the SLC itself pays nothing on this funding, the cost to the government of this capital is the same as that paid on its general borrowing. The amounts paid out and the interest charged can be found in the published document titled ‘DfE consolidated annual report and accounts 2016-17’ on pages 152 to 158, attached. The government does not make a profit on these loans, which is reflected through the impairment charge in note 14.3.3 on page 155 of the attachment. This shows the proportion of the loan outlay and interest that the department expects not to recover. Student loans are subsidised by the government as a deliberate investment in the skills base of the country, which delivers benefits for individual students and for society at large.



HL9508_acceptances_by_STEM_subject
(PDF Document, 4.7 MB)

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice: Reviews

lord watts: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many independent reviews the Ministry of Justice has commissioned into its policy or administration over the last year; and what was the total cost of those reviews.

lord keen of elie: The Ministry of Justice does not keep a central record of information on commissioning of independent reviews into policy or administration. To collate this information from across the Department would incur a disproportionate cost.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

UK Research and Innovation: Taxation

baroness kramer: To ask Her Majesty's Government what tax liabilities UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has generated since its inception; what estimatesthey have of the extent of these liabilities in this financial year and the next; and whether such tax liabilities will reduce the funds available to UKRI for distribution via Research Councils.

lord henley: Like many other non-departmental bodies, UKRI’s tax liabilities include VAT and business rates. As UKRI is a new body, we are working with HMRC and HMT to ensure it pays the necessary and appropriate levels of tax. While details are being worked out, UKRI is meeting all new costs centrally and there has been no impact on Research Council spending. UKRI estimates the potential additional tax impact on running costs, following the creation of UKRI, to be £15m per annum. Further to this, some of UKRI’s capital projects previously qualified for VAT relief, so the impact of UKRI’s new legal status on this is being assessed and will be factored into UKRI’s planning going forward. UKRI and BEIS remain focussed on maximising spend on frontline science and research.

Crowdfunding

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to introduce oversight of crowd-funded business ventures.

lord henley: Businesses that have raised capital through crowdfunding operate in the same legal framework as any other business. The Government has no plans to introduce additional oversight of crowd-funded business ventures. The Financial Conduct Authority oversees the crowdfunding process itself. Loan-based crowdfunding (also known as ‘peer-to-peer lending’) and investment-based crowdfunding (where consumers invest in businesses by buying shares or debentures) are both regulated activities under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Construction: Digital Technology

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encouragemore digitalisation in the construction sector.

lord henley: The Government and construction industry have agreed an ambitious Sector Deal which aims to transform the productivity of the sector. The deal contains a commitment to increase the use of digital technologies, including Building Information Modelling, sensors, data analytics and smart systems technologies and the Information Management Landscape. These will enable the design of better-performing and safer buildings and manage the onsite construction process to improve efficiency and minimise waste. The Government will invest £170m from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to support the development and commercialisation of digital and manufacturing technologies for the construction sector, creating new skills and jobs and international export opportunities for firms in the sector. This represents the single biggest investment from government for at least a decade and will accelerate change, transform the business model of the construction sector and make it more sustainable and profitable.

Department of Health and Social Care

Public Health and Social Services: Finance

lord warner: To ask Her Majesty's Government what increases, in constant prices and on present funding plans, will be provided for (1) Public Health England, (2) local authority public health services, and (3) adult social care services, over each of the next five years; and what are the planned annual percentage increases for each of those service areas over that period.

lord o'shaughnessy: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 03 July 2018.The correct answer should have been:

The available figures are provided in the following table.  2019-20 budget2020-21 budgetPublic Health England: operating expenditure £ million287 237287 237Increase (£)-£0Increase (%)-0%  2019-20 planned2020-21 plannedPublic health funding for local authorities £ billion3.133.13Increase (£)-£0Increase (%)-0% Budgets for both Public Health England and local authorities beyond these years will be agreed as part of the next Spending Review settlement. Spending decisions on social care, including annual increases, are a matter for local government which know their local areas best. Overall, the Government has given access to £9.4 billion additional funding for social care between 2017-18 and 2019-20. Funding allocations for local government beyond 2019-20 are subject to the Spending Review.

lord o'shaughnessy: The available figures are provided in the following table.  2019-20 budget2020-21 budgetPublic Health England: operating expenditure £ million287 237287 237Increase (£)-£0Increase (%)-0%  2019-20 planned2020-21 plannedPublic health funding for local authorities £ billion3.133.13Increase (£)-£0Increase (%)-0% Budgets for both Public Health England and local authorities beyond these years will be agreed as part of the next Spending Review settlement. Spending decisions on social care, including annual increases, are a matter for local government which know their local areas best. Overall, the Government has given access to £9.4 billion additional funding for social care between 2017-18 and 2019-20. Funding allocations for local government beyond 2019-20 are subject to the Spending Review.

Mental Health Services: Ethnic Groups

lord boateng: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of patients referred through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme were from Black and Minority Ethnic communities.

lord o'shaughnessy: The proportion of patients referred to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme in 2016-17 who were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities is shown in the following table.Number of IAPT referrals1 received by ethnicity group, England, 2016-17EthnicityCount of new referrals receivedProportion of total referrals received2Asian/Asian British60,5784%Black/African/Caribbean/Black British36,0163%Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Groups29,1502%Other Ethnic Group18,7761%White1,016,52373%Not stated/not known224,62116% Source: IAPT dataset, NHS Digital Notes:Referrals with a referral received date in the year.Percentages do not add to 100 due to rounding.

Mental Health Services

lord boateng: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on mental health services of the increase in the numbers of people presenting with practical problems as identified in the report by Citizens Advice,The road block to recovery,published in July.

lord o'shaughnessy: NHS England recognises that many people who come to the attention of secondary community mental health services need support with practical problems such as housing and debt advice. As a result, its framework for community mental health services currently in development will emphasise the importance of integrated service models which can address such needs, for example through partnerships between the National Health Service, local authority and voluntary sector services.Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services provide evidence-based psychological therapies to people with common mental health disorders. They are not designed to address practical problems, however, where appropriate, therapists may signpost patients to other local sources of help for those practical problems and, if necessary, where a practical problem is likely to impact negatively on treatment, defer treatment until the person is better able to benefit from that treatment.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

lord kirkhope of harrogate: To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the decision to make the Freestyle Libre glucose monitoring system available on the NHS to diabetic patients, whether they will ensure that that system is available to all who require it in all parts of England.

lord o'shaughnessy: Reducing variation in the management and care of people with diabetes by 2020 is an objective in the National Health Service mandate. The NHS RightCare diabetes pathway shows the core components of an optimal diabetes service, as well as evidence of the opportunity to reduce variation. Ultimately it is for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), who are primarily responsible for commissioning diabetes services, to meet the requirements of their population. In doing so, CCGs need to ensure that the services they provide are fit for purpose, reflect the needs of the local population, are based on the available evidence and take into account national guidelines. This includes determining whether specific technologies, such as flash glucose monitoring, form part of their service and if it is suitable for individual patients to support the ongoing management of their condition.The Regional Medicines Optimisation Committee North has issued advice on the use of Freestyle Libre to support the CCGs in doing this, suggesting a careful start to its use and data collection to better understand the benefits for patients. The guidance Regional Medicines Optimisation Committee (RMOC) Flash Glucose Monitoring Systems Position Statement is attached. 



Flash Glucose Monitoring Systems Guidance
(PDF Document, 146.51 KB)